Staff at Leeds Building Society’s branches in the North East are collecting canned food until Friday, November 13, for a homeless charity.

They will take delivery of cans on behalf of The People’s Kitchen, which has been supporting the homeless and disadvantaged in the Newcastle area since 1985.

The participating branches include Morpeth, which is located in Bridge Street.

Verena Harrigan, customer service advisor at the Morpeth branch, organised the initiative.

She said: “The People’s Kitchen helps so many homeless people in Newcastle to have a warm meal at least once in the day.

“We had a collection a while ago, which was very successful, but of course the need for the food supply never goes away. Therefore, a collection of food stuffs at Christmas time seemed a really nice thing for the branches to do.”

Locations for the other branches in the region include Blyth, Whitley Bay, North Shields, Wallsend and Newcastle and the society’s processing centre at Silverlink Business Park is also collecting canned food.

The types of cans favoured are old staples such as soups, beans and tins of tomatoes, but staff will also accept pasta and tinned meats.

These items will then be donated to the charity, which feeds up to 80 homeless people a night on the streets of Newcastle.